


Katara: Captured

by rivervixens



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, Slow Burn, Stockholm Syndrome, Teen Angst, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-20 04:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12424599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivervixens/pseuds/rivervixens
Summary: Katara gets captured and is desperate to escape... or so she tells herself. A typical Zutara fanfiction which will probably eventually possibly include smut.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything from the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise. If I have to warn you about spoilers, why are you even reading this? ~~ Enjoy ~~

It seemed that the world was, in fact, against her. For the first time in Katara’s life, something exciting had happened. Her and Sokka had discovered the avatar, and she imagined that the three of them, Appa, and probably another person they’d eventually pick up along the way would all go on a journey of a lifetime, get chased by some bad guys, and yeah, maybe save the world. Instead, she was sitting in this miserable, humid room. At first she could clearly smell the smoke coming up from god knows where and the stale air but, at this rate, her senses would be clogged up in no time. It wasn’t really important how she got there, but rather, the fact that Aang and Sokka probably had no idea where she was, and that she needed a way out because they were probably very worried about---

In that moment, the door swung open with apparent force, somehow not managing to break off. The guard gripped her arm, which probably would leave a bruise in the near future, and started to drag her out of the room. Katara’s struggling, “HEY! Urgh when I get my hands on some goddamn water I swear to all that is holy…” was not really helping the current situation. The guard hadn’t even bothered to close the door when he left for god’s sakes. Katara began to miss the stale air and red tapestry as he dragged her up the stairs and out into the open, causing her to shield her eyes of the bright light which she hadn’t seen in a few days. She felt him pull her to a sharp U-Turn and up a few more stairs onto what she deemed to be the deck. At the edges of the boat were a few guards standing by, and in the very center was a man playing some awful sort of music on a banjo, a few men who sang with blushed cheeks and bottles raised and swaying in the air, and…

“Zuko…” Katara said through her teeth. Really, she should have expected this by now, and yet here she was, still shocked at Scarface sitting in the circle, staring at his hands. When he saw her and the guard dragging her around he wasn’t really shocked; he just stood up and nodded at the guard. He dropped her onto the floor and went back down the stairs. Katara’s hands and knees scraped the floor, and when she looked up through the strands of her hair, she saw a concern on the old man’s face and Zuko standing up and walking over to her. She got herself up just as he held out his hand to help her up. She sort of scoffed at his attempt at faking kindness; after all, he was the one who imprisoned her and attacked her brother and the only shot at saving the world.

“Fine,” she heard Zuko mutter under his breath as he went to walk away. Katara took this moment, with Zuko’s back to her, to bring the ocean’s opportunities to her advantage.

“Don’t bother,” she heard Zuko say, but the guards didn’t seem to be on to her yet, so she figured now or never. She went to go pull up her usual string of water onto the deck and got into a stable attacking position when she realized she couldn't feel the reassuring pressure and pull of the tides. She felt naked and confused when she realized what must have happened.

“YOU!”

“Yes, me,” he commented snarkily, turning around to face her once again.

“How could you? How-- how DARE you?” Katara felt like she could rip that stupid ponytail off that smug teenage airhead of his, and then they’d see who was in charge. Then she heard the old man’s hearty laugh and looked over to see he had put down the banjo and that the other two men had stopped singing, instead staring in curiosity. If in the avatar universe there was popcorn, Katara would have sworn that those two would have been eating some, watching the three of them as entertainment. Speaking of impossible things in this universe, Katara was still flabbergasted about how the hell Zuko had managed to take away her power, and if it was… no it couldn’t be permanent… could it?

“Don’t you worry now little one,” the old man said, “it’ll only last for the time you’ll be staying with us.”

“How long will that be for? And how could my powers be just… taken away like that? Is this ship cursed or something?” At this, the man laughed once more. He seemed to be awfully amused by everything. Katara gave a glare when she saw out of the corner of her eye that Zuko had just walked away as though nothing was happening.

“Pardon my nephew please, he’s not having a particularly good morning and, quite frankly,” he said in a loud whisper, cupping one of his hands to the side of his mouth, “he’s not very good at talking to girls.” This time, Katara was the one to laugh a ridiculous laugh. It was preposterous how Zuko could possibly be a relative of this guy. Katara realized this has been the first conversation she'd had with someone in a day or two, and suddenly become very grateful that his uncle was here.

“Though, to answer your string of questions, you’ll be here until Zuko feels he no longer needs leverage and has no use of you. Your powers haven’t really been taken away. Think of it as though they’re temporarily in hiding. And no,” he chuckles, “the ship isn’t cursed. There’s a rare berry powder that the cook uses in your food.”

“Oh.. I see.”

“Yes, well it temporarily hides your powers and,” he winked at Katara, which she generally would think was weird, but knowing this man he was just being silly, “I’m sure it goes great with some jasmine tea!” He swished around his cup of tea at her, smiling.

Their interesting conversation came to an abrupt halt when a guard --possibly the same one from before but to tell you the truth Katara couldn't really tell since their smooth armor covered a majority of their faces-- walked over and grabbed her by the arm once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara ends up in a room which isn't her own.

“I’ve been ordered to send you to the cook for work,” he said. Katara should have seen it coming; after all, she knew her brother wasn't the only teenage boy who thought women were supposed to cook and clean. 

“See you in a bit, little one,” the man said to Katara as she was dragged away once more. The guard left her in this small sort of kitchen, where there was an old man, probably around his 70’s, making something. He taught her how to cut and peel and left her a pile of washed things to fix up for whatever he was making. She spent what felt like an eternity but was probably just an hour cutting carrots and peeling potatoes. To be completely honest, she wasn’t a very good cook. Back at home she was used to going out with Sokka to get some food for Grammy to cook for the village. After a while, the old man left and Katara got precedingly frustrated with her work. 

There were no windows in the galley, which is what the cook called this place. There were barrels of apples, potatoes, carrots; the works. All of the silverware was mainly clean, but Katara would occasionally find spots and crumbs on the knives she used. There was so much stuff everywhere that it was difficult to fit more than one person inside comfortably. She still had practically an entire other barrel of food that needed chopping when she heard the door open and the cook slip inside. 

“I haven't gotten through much more since you left but I really think I’m getting the hang of this,” Katara told him, keeping her eyes on the potato she was peeling to make sure she didn’t slice her finger again.

“I just stopped by to tell you--” 

Katara heard Zuko’s voice from behind her and went to turn around when she hit her shoulder into his chest, forcing her hand with the peeler to slice her other hand. 

“Wha-- AH!!” Katara shouted as she snapped her gaze back to her hands. She saw the slice on her hands and she inhaled sharply. The last time she saw blood… real blood…

The peeler slipped out of her shaky hands when she felt her legs crumple like snow under pressure. She could hear a muffled version of dialogue from him as she collapsed onto the cold floor. Her vision faded to black just after she saw wide, golden eyes looking down on her with emotion she had not previously seen from them before. 

 

When she first opened her eyes again she didn’t recognize the room. The decorations were similar, yes, but the bed was large enough as to where Katara didn’t feel as though she would fall off, and when she tilted her head toward the side, she noticed that there was a separate room attached to this one. She could hear a stream of running water from inside; something which suddenly made her yearn for the simple home life which was stolen from her.

“You’re awake,” she heard Zuko say from inside the separate room, “I cleaned up the cut on your finger…”

“Yeah well maybe if you quit putting that disabling powder in my system I’d be able to heal myself,” protested Katara, even though at the time she didn’t actually believe she had healing powers like the ancestors her mother told her bedtime stories about. She had yet to discover the span of her abilities, but she still wanted any way to force them to give her powers back. 

“I was just trying to help!” Even if he was being sincere, Katara saw him as her captor, and she’d be damned if she ever caught herself thanking him. She heard him turn off a stream of running and noticed him in her peripheral vision walking out of what she assumed to be a bathroom whilst wiping off his face with a cloth.

“Whatever you say, your highness.” Katara seemed to now be conscious enough to make snarky comments.

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not going to thank someone who helped fix a wound they caused,” Katara replied in frustration. She didn’t understand how he could possibly expect any different reaction from her. 

“I didn’t cause it, you bumped into me,” he protested. 

“You snuck up on me!” 

“The squealing hinges on the door didn’t clue you in enough?”

“I thought you were the cook…”

“Well you thought wrong,” he said, “besides, I’m still surprised you’re so queasy.”

“Yeah well the last time I saw blood… let’s just say my parents haven’t been around since then,” Katara said. There was a long pause after that. Even though Katara didn’t know it, Zuko understood how she was feeling. Of course, he would never admit it to her though. 

Katara turned her head to look at the mysteriously silent teenager, who turned away before she could try and figure out why he was suddenly so quiet. She wasn’t really complaining; after all, she hated his obnoxious, whiny voice. But something about this silence seemed eerily comfortable. She watched him go to a dresser and grab some clothes from the top drawer. When he turned to her general direction, she turned her head away, pretending not to not care about what he was doing. 

She heard him return to the bathroom and close the door. Katara brought the sheets closer to her face and could smell the rather comforting smell of something. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, and as she thought about it she suddenly realized that she was laying in Zuko’s bed. She instantly jerked the sheets away from her face. When he emerged from the room, he was dressed in some sort of formal attire, but she wasn’t sure about Fire Nation apparel customs so she wasn’t sure.

“I’m going to a council meeting with the rest of the crew. Since you clearly don’t want any help from anyone else, I trust you’ll do fine finding your room on your own.”

And with that, Zuko stormed out of the room. The giant metal door squealed shut behind him, leaving Katara with silence and her own thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

Katara heard the echoing steps fade away and threw the sheets to the side, sliding her feet over the edge of the bed. Next to the bed was a small nightstand, with a red candle and a few dishes. Across the room was the entrance to the bathroom, and between it and the corner was a dresser. The decorations were all red and gold; most of which also held the Fire Nation insignia. She despised the symbol… Nothing could make her believe there was any good in someone who fought for the Fire Nation. 

She felt her toes pad the floor as she got out of bed and went to go back to her room. When she made her way across the room and tried to open the door, she couldn't. She figured it just needed some pressure to bust it open, so she tried to open it by force. She pulled and pushed at the handle, and banged her fists on it with frustration. She sort of exclaimed a mixture of a frustrated “URGH”s and “MMPH”s, which, of course, didn’t help the situation either. Once her hands felt like they were going to break off, she decided to stop her attempts at opening it with force. Instead, she decided to use a far better strategy.

“HEY! A little help in here?!?”

Okay, so maybe she was running out of ideas. Of course, it didn't really matter, since Zuko would probably come back from the council meeting within an hour or two, right?

 

“Zuko!!! You’re here! I’ve been waiting for this day for a whole month, you know,” Uncle Iroh said… again, “Need I remind you about the importance of punctuality for our rare games of Pai Sho?” 

“I’m the commander of this ship, and I say when I want to arrive,” said Zuko as he sat down at the game table.

“Are you sure that pretty little lady wasn’t distracting you from checking the time?”

“What?!? No, I just tend to dislike arriving to a game I know will take forever,” he said, dismissing his uncle’s comment about the girl. Zuko wasn’t entirely sure but the thought he remembered her name… Katara, yes, that’s what it was. He remembered hearing Aang shouting it in the snow, searching for her. Zuko had knocked her out and hidden with her in a dip in the snow, so that they couldn't find him and his new hostage. 

“Zuko, your move,” Iroh said, waking Zuko from his thoughts. Zuko moved a tile, difinitively, even though he had no idea what any of the tiles meant, or for that matter what the rules of the game were. 

 

Katara laid down in the center of the floor, staring at the ceiling. At some point in time, she had been making snow angels, but then she got bored of that too. She had already attempted to pound on the door some more, hoping that maybe someone would answer her call for help, but it was useless.

At the moment, she felt like she was going to shrivel up from starvation, so in a desperate attempt to get something to eat, Katara started to look through Zuko’s room for some stashed food. She looked in all the drawers and under the pillows, but there was not even a crumb to be found. If she couldn’t eat, she was going to have to get something else done. Laying on the floor and making fake snow angels wasn’t her idea of productivity. She went to comb back her hair with her fingers when she noticed how horrible her hair felt. She had completely forgotten how she hadn't bathed in a few days. 

Katara walked over to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Zuko had a mirror and a counter with a bunch of containers sprinkled across it. She picked up one of the containers, and because of her grip she accidentally squeezed a button, spraying some sort of scented liquid all over her face and neck. She began a coughing fit, putting the container down and waving her hands in the air in front of her face. The scent of it smelled just like the sheets. After she recovered, she took off her clothes, and after posing in the mirror for a good five minutes, figured out how the bath worked. She could still feel her stomach growl as she soaked in the tub. She managed to find some soap, and while it didn’t smell exactly like the sheets or the spray, it smelled somewhat similar. The water was warm and soothing, unlike the icey baths she used to have to take back home.

She drained the tub of the water once she was done and put her clothes back on, drying herself with some towels in the process. Katara figured that Zuko wouldn’t mind her borrowing his towels, and if he did, he was a jerk for it. After all, what did he really expect from someone he captured, didn’t let bathe for days, and then locked in a room with access to a bath?

After she left the bathroom, she laid down on the bed again. Laying down on the floor was really starting to make her back ache, and she was in desperate need of some sleep. She eventually curled up in the sheets and relaxed a bit. At first, she didn’t intend on falling asleep, but after some time of laying there she let herself close her eyes and dream of home. 

 

Zuko felt like he was going to actually fall over and die. He was trying to figure out how to make his uncle win so that he could get away from this tea-smelling room. He wasn’t even trying, and yet the game still lasted for hours. He felt like he was in an endless cycle; searching for the avatar, playing this stupid board game once a month, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. Everything that was happening in his life, he had already experienced before. The only thing different was that water tribe girl.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! If theres any typos just tell me and I'll fix them. Also, if you want another chapter make sure to leave a comment!


End file.
